---
title: His sharp gray eyes looked first this way and then that; his ears we… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: His sharp gray eyes looked first this way and then that; his ears were open to the slightest sound; all his senses were alert. Who acts: sharp gray eyes, ears, senses. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Tree of Magic, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Tree of Magic, sentence 57

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His sharp gray eyes looked first this way and then that; his ears were open to the slightest sound; all his senses were alert.

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**Who acts:** sharp gray eyes, ears, senses · **What happens:** look, be · **To what, where:** way

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Tree of Magic. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sharp gray eyes, ears, senses), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66819:6:57
# text = His sharp gray eyes looked first this way and then that; his ears were open to the slightest sound; all his senses were alert.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
2	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	gray	gray	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	advmod	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	slightest	slight	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	amod	_	_
20	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
22	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	senses	sens	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	alert	alert	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | wizard's sharp gray eyes | this way  that |  |  |  | first *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | wizard's ears |  |  |  |  | to the slightest sound; open *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | wizard's senses |  |  |  |  | alert *property* | tree rules |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 66819 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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